1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus which reduces the time required to start error handling when an error occurs, by enabling easy identification of a test mode corresponding to the occurred error.
2. Related Art
When an error occurs, an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a facsimile displays information such as a location and a content of the error on a monitor of the image forming apparatus. Then, a user having noticed the display on the monitor calls a maintenance company, and a service man having received the call performs error handling.
However, such error handling requires quite a long time, because when an error occurs, the image forming apparatus always has to prompt the user to call the maintenance company, and let the service man perform the error handling. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-211662 (JP2008-211662A) proposes a method in which a monitor of an image forming apparatus presents user processing for handling an occurred error to a user by displaying the processing step by step.
For the image forming apparatus described in JP2008-211662A, handling methods classified by model type, error type, and status at the occurrence of an error are stored in advance in a repair database. When error notification information sent from the image forming apparatus is received, information indicating a handling method for the occurred error is extracted from the repair database based on model information, error information, and status information of the image forming apparatus which are included in the error notification information, and the extracted information is displayed on the monitor of the image forming apparatus.